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reductionismenCopyright 2017 NPR - For Personal Use OnlyNPR API RSS Generator 0.94Fri, 07 Feb 2014 11:51:00 -0500https://media.npr.org/images/stations/nprone_logos/npr.png?s=200reductionismhttps://www.npr.org
Should We Expect A Theory Of Everything?The idea that there is a unified, intelligible Natural Order is shared by materialists and the religious alike. Maybe it is time to reject this common Natural Order-ism. The Theory of Everything is a pipe dream, says commentator Alva Noë.Fri, 07 Feb 2014 11:51:00 -0500https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2014/02/07/273020930/should-we-expect-a-theory-of-everything?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=reductionism
https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2014/02/07/273020930/should-we-expect-a-theory-of-everything?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=reductionism

The idea that there is a unified, intelligible Natural Order is shared by materialists and the religious alike. Maybe it is time to reject this common Natural Order-ism. The Theory of Everything is a pipe dream, says commentator Alva Noë.

(Image credit: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images)

]]>Alva NoëCan Science Explain Everything?We turn to science for answers about a lot of things. But its grand theories about life, the universe and everything should be seen for what they are: more tools to think about the big questions than answers in-and-of themselves. That's the word from astrophysicist and commentator Adam Frank.Tue, 17 Dec 2013 10:44:00 -0500https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2013/12/17/251639553/can-science-explain-everything?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=reductionism
https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2013/12/17/251639553/can-science-explain-everything?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=reductionism

We turn to science for answers about a lot of things. But its grand theories about life, the universe and everything should be seen for what they are: more tools to think about the big questions than answers in-and-of themselves. That's the word from astrophysicist and commentator Adam Frank.

(Image credit: Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images)

]]>Adam FrankScience Sees Its Own Reality In Life's Hall Of MirrorsWhat is a brain but a cloud of elementary particles? If that's the case, then isn't the world a just figment, an image or a confabulation? Commentator Alva Noë asks if our world, the world described by science, is any more real than the stories in the Bible.Fri, 22 Nov 2013 11:46:00 -0500https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2013/11/22/246716017/science-sees-its-own-reality-in-lifes-hall-of-mirrors?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=reductionism
https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2013/11/22/246716017/science-sees-its-own-reality-in-lifes-hall-of-mirrors?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=reductionism

What is a brain but a cloud of elementary particles? If that's the case, then isn't the world a just figment, an image or a confabulation? Commentator Alva Noë asks if our world, the world described by science, is any more real than the stories in the Bible.

(Image credit: Bilal Tarabey/AFP/Getty Images)

]]>Alva NoëHow Does The World Work: Top-Down or Bottom-Up?Can everything that happens in the universe (like the working of your mind) be understood merely as an expression of interactions at the level of elementary particles? Astrophysicist Adam Frank doesn't think so. He's skeptical of reductionism and takes heart from a new theory that sees cause-and-effect flowing both ways.Sun, 29 Sep 2013 05:05:00 -0400https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2013/09/29/225359504/how-does-the-world-work-top-down-or-bottom-up?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=reductionism
https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2013/09/29/225359504/how-does-the-world-work-top-down-or-bottom-up?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=reductionism

Can everything that happens in the universe (like the working of your mind) be understood merely as an expression of interactions at the level of elementary particles? Astrophysicist Adam Frank doesn't think so. He's skeptical of reductionism and takes heart from a new theory that sees cause-and-effect flowing both ways.